Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-11-04
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE

When the census OF 1880 was taken
the place had only a few thousand
Inhabitants and was a town of but
little importance or promise. To-day
it has 10000 residents and as many
more transient sojourners. For five
years the city has been growing with
astonishing rapidity, and property
has enhanced in value until the
prices asked are no longer within the
bounds of reason. The boom wa,
turned on with full head of steam
and the real estate men have been in
their glory for the last year or two
Those who invested in real estate
early enough made big money, but j
am inclined to believe that the boom
has reached the top notch and has al
ready begun to subside. l noticed in
yesterdays reports that lot hereto
fore held at $1,000 had been sold at
$1,000, and was told of another in
stance where lot was sold for 81 100
which was refused at 81 300 not long
ago. The prices on many building
lots with so feet front 60 as high as
IS 900 or $4,000, and in the business
part of the city real estate 10 worth
thousands of dollars per front foot.
1t is hard TO get any kind Of resi-
dence lot, even in undesirable por-
lions of tho city, for less than 81 600.
OF course this state OF affairs can't
last, and when the boom has subsidized
the same lots can be had at reasona-
BILE prices. Many of the owners are
foolish enough 10 post the prices at
which lots are valued, and the asses
sor gets fair sweep at them when
he comes around. That much dread
ed official makes his annual visits in
boom towns as well as in the less for
tunate parts of the country, and II
takes only few assessments to make
an inflated valuation wiltlike frost.
ed tomato vine. The boom is KEEP
up now by the real estate agents, who
are as thick as autumn leaves in Val
lambrosa. You can't turn any wher'
without running against dozen Oh
two of them. They have their Office
on every street and in every nool
and corner. Some store rooms ar
divided into apartments like tn
stalls in livery stable, aud in eacl
one you will find a chair, a table an,
real estate agent. Corners are Gu
off in barber shops, cigar stands, drui
stores and all other kinds of bushes
houses, 10 be occupied by the gentle
men who tell you that the prices o
property have but Just begun to ad
vance, and that now is the time t
buy, before the boom gets fairly on
You will find them in Easements
down stairs and up stairs, on mail
streets and on side streets, in tn
business portions of town and in tn
suburbs, everywhere and at al
times, from early dawn till late a
night. They advertise in every con
ceivable manner. The papers ar,
filled with real estate for sale, the bill
boards are covered, and there ar
enough planks stuck up on vacan
lots to fence in the town. This a.
impresseS the observer with the idle
that buyers are not as plentiful a
they have been, and that now would
be first-rate time to let property go
Some of the shrewd agents realiz
this and are booming suburban
towns. No less than a dozen it'll
places have been laid Off within a IA
dius of fifteen miles of this city, aDC
the lots are being put on the marke
at unreasonable figures. Town lot
have been staked Off for miles in thes
paper towns, which have as yet les
than a dozen houses. Not only i
this true, but all of the land between
the city and these villages has beel
divided up into small lots, which
they are ever built upon will max
Los Angeles the largest city on tn
continent. Some Of the agents &c
the exclusive right to boom one O
these little towns. In the city it is
free for all fight. Every agent i
trying to sell every lot, and the ma
who makes the sale at the price fixe,
by the owner, rakes in the commits
sion of per cent. on the first thous
and, 81 on each subsequent thousand
AT this rate the agent who makes
sale of $1,000 lot gets 500; and al
the capital needed to go into busines
is an Office large enough for a tabl
and a chair, q handful Of cards,
map of the city, a plug hat and
bushel of "gAll." Some of the toni
est ones have carriage at hand t,
show strangers around town. The!
extend their courtesies to any strang
ers who call on them, whether they
want to buy property or not. They
go upon the principle that all strang
ers who are shown over Los Angelel
fall in love with the place and either
decide TO locate here or go back tC
their homes walking advertisements
Of the place. And our corner lot
friends are seldom mistaken in theil
calculations. One only needs to SCI
the beautiful city of Los Angeles t
arrive at the conclusion that it is
most delightful place to live, and {
city with great possibilities for thu
future. The place is as yet more likt
a great overgrown town. There arr
very few houses more than three sto
ries high, and many of the merchant